Gingrich slams Newsom for ‘personal attacks’ on DeSantis during debate

by Nick Robertson - 12/02/23 9:36 AM ET

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich went after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) on Friday over his recent debate with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.).

The pair faced off Thursday in a “red vs. blue” debate, pitting the two most high-profile governors against each other. Both landed jabs, but Gingrich paid special attention to Newsom’s performance.

“Gavin is very clever, but if you watched him last night, there were two things going on; praising Joe Biden to prove to the Democratic Party he’s loyal, and personally attacking Governor DeSantis because he couldn’t answer the questions,” Gingrich said in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, who moderated the debate.

Gingrich lauded Hannity for staying out of the partisan fights. Analysts, however, noted that the politically active host often sided with DeSantis and painted Florida in a more positive light than California.

Both governors frequently attacked each other throughout the night on COVID-19 policy, housing, taxation and their political futures.

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That included hard hits from Newsom calling out DeSantis for a presidential campaign which has failed to reach expectations. The Sunshine State governor is polling significantly behind the race’s front-runner, former President Trump.

“Newsom had to go on the attack and be personal rather than deal with the issues,” Gingrich said.

The debate likely failed to change the opinions of many viewers on the pair of politicians, but the event sparked waves of praise for both men from their respective allies.

Still, the 90-minute event netted a total of 4.7 million viewers for the network, according to Nielsen Media Research data, including 742,000 in the key advertising demographic of viewers aged 25-54.

Tags DeSantis-Newsom debate Donald Trump Gavin Newsom Newt Gingrich Ron DeSantis Sean Hannity